Rail bond



June 10, 1952 c, LAVARACK 2,600,118

RAIL BOND Filed Feb. 10, 1948 A T TOE/VF Y Patented June 10, 1952 to Railroad Ac'kios's'ories Corporation;

New York.

N. Y., a corporation of N ew York Application February 10, 1948, serial-No". 7,382

1 Claim.

This invention relates to couplings, particularly ooupiine's used for electrically connecting the adjaoent ends of abutting rails.

A principal object of this invention is to provide a terminal or a rail bond of such form that it will receive and seat an expanding pin in such manner that theexpanoin pin when driven will proceed Substantially if not directly along the line of the'longitudinal axis of the bond.

A further object of the invention is to provide a punch of such form that it may be readily extracted from the, terminal of a rail bond, without' loosening the terminal, after being used to expand the terminal.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the description of the particular physical embodiment selected to illustrate the invention progrosses and the novel features of the invention will be particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In describing the invention in detail, and the particular embodiment selected to illustrate the invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing, wherein has been illustrated a particular preferred physical embodiment of the invention, and wherein like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in Which Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a portion of abutting rail ends with a rail bond of my invention in place thereon; Fig. 2is a top plan view of the arrangement as shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional view on the plane indicated by the line IIIIII of Fig. 1 viewed in the direction of the arrows at the ends of the line and showing the relation thereto of an expanding pin; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view, shown in cross section, of a rail head formed with a cavity and one of my terminals inserted therein; Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, but illustrating the completion of the attachment of the terminal to the rail head; Fig. 6 is a view of an expanding pin used in connection with my invention.

My invention relates to the type of bond known as a head of rail bond. It is a commonly used and well known bond. The solid bonds of the prior art are so formed that when expanded into a cavity in the rail head by means of a punch pin, it is quite usual for the punch pin to get askew, and instead of being driven along the longitudinal axis of the stud of the bond, it is driven at an angle thereto with the result that either a larger quantity of metal remains on one side of the longitudinal axis of the bond than on the other, or the punch actually cuts through the metal on one side. In either event, the installation or the bond is defective and a failure is most likely to sooner or later occur. Further it has been found thatfthe usual and conventional straight-hose type of punch after being used to expand a solid bond stud very frequently becomes so i'mbe'dded or stuck in the bond that it is dinicult to remove it. In some cases it is necessary to apply a wrench thereto in order to remove it from the bond. In such a case-, the effect upon the bond is disastrous because it loosens the stud in the cavity and quite destroys the proper mechanical and electrical connection. This effect also results in a great waste of time and severely tries the patience of the workmen.

My invention nasbeen devised to obviate the above mentioned difliculties.

In the form shown for the purpose of illustration I designates one rail and 2 designates the adjacent abutting fail of the usual railway track. The electrical connection between.- the rails is designated by 3. The terminals of the cable 3, are the means by which the cable 3 is mechanically and electrically connected to the several rails, as l and- 2'. 4 and 5 are identically formed termirials: In Fig. 3, the rail 2 is shown in section and the usual or ordinary cylindrical cavity 6 is shown.

The bond terminal 5 includes a cylindrical stud or portion 1 which is made preferably of a size to require slight driving to go within the cylindrical cavity 6 and to abut the end surface 8 forming the bottom-of the cavity 6. This terminal 4 is formed with a cavity to receive a punch or expanding pin. This cavity for receiving an expanding pin in bonds of the prior art has been made cylindrical so that it would not act to properly position an expanding pin so as to have its longitudinal axis coincide with the longitudinal axis of the stud I. In my form of terminal, however, the inner part 9 of the cavity in the terminal 4 is formed as a hollow frustrum of a cone and the outer part I0 is formed as a hollow cylinder.

In order to properly expand the stud 1 of my terminal in the cavity 6, I employ an expanding pin ll, shown in Fig. 6. This expanding pin has a portion I2 at the end formed as the frustrum of a cone which is made of a predetermined size so that it closely but not tightly fits the very innermost end portion only 9 of the cavity in the bond terminal. As the very end portion I2 of the expanding pin only just fits the cavity 9, it positions the expanding pin so that its longitudinal axis substantially coincides with the longitudinal axis of the terminal 4 and especially the stud 6 thereof, so that when the end of the expanding pin II is struck, as with a hammer, the pin proceeds along the longitudinal axis of the stud 6 leaving equal quantities of metal on each side thereof and in no case becoming so much askew as to produce an unequal pressure of the metal on opposite sides of the hole.

By tapering the end or nose of the punch or expanding pin, after the stud is affixed in the rail, there is no diificulty in removing the punch from its seat in the stud so that the stud is not loosened in the rail cavity. The taperin of the nose of the stud also aids the stud in gripping the rail because the tapered nose of the punch has a tendency to force the metal sideways as it penetrates the stud, thus giving a firm grip on the sides of the cavity,"especially toward the bottom of the cavity. Further, when the hole is tapered it facilitates the holding of the punch approximately on the longitudinal axis of the stud. When the punch is used to expand a solid stud into a cavity in a rail head and the punch is not held substantially on the longitudinal line of the stud, although the stud may be expanded, the grip upon the sides of the cavity is not even and an unsatisfactory result is secured.

Fig. 3 shows the terminal 5 after it has been secured in place. The final position of the pin l l which secured it in place is shown by the dot and dash lines. Fig. 5 shows the pin H in position in the bond 5 when the driving has been completed.

Fig. 4 shows the position of the punch H at the very start of the expanding operation. The very end of the punch I i only fits the very innermost portion of the tapered cavity. The angle of the tapered portion of the cavity is such that, initially, the sides thereof are free from contact with the sides of the tapered end portion [2 of the punch.

From the hereinbefore given description, it will be seen that by forming a bond terminal in the manner described and using an expanding pin formed as described to expand that terminal in a rail cavity, one will be certain, after the expansion has been completed, that the expansion has been symmetrical about the longitudinal center line of the stud of the terminal and that in order to secure such result, little care is required other than to initially firmly seat the end i2 of the expanding pin in the cavity 9 which will automatically position the expanding pin ll so as to produce the proper result when struck by a hammer.

The tapered cavity in the stud l centers the punch and the tapered end l2 of the punch facilitates easy removal of the punch after expanding the stud.

Although I have particularly described one particular physical embodiment of my invention, nevertheless, I desire to have it understood that the form selected is merely illustrative and does not exhaust the possible physical embodiments of the idea of means underlying my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A rail bond terminal formed with a cylindrical stud portion adapted to be received in a bottomed cylindrical rail cavity opening at the side face of a rail, said stud being formed with a cavity opening in the face of the bond terminal and having its inner end inwardly beyond the side face of the rail when the stud is inserted in the rail cavity adapted for the reception of a punch, said cavity in the stud, at the inner portion, formed as a hollow cone frustrum having its axis coinciding with the longitudinal axis of the stud whereby a punch of a predetermined size formed at its end portion as the frustrum of a cone may be centrally seated in the cavity and initially contact the wall of the cavity in the stud at substantially the end of the punch only and thereby be caused to lie in the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical portion of the stud so that when the punch is struck it will be driven along the line of the said longitudinal axis to expand the portion of the stud lying within said rail cavity and after expanding the stud may be easily removed and means adapted for electrically connecting the terminal to an adjacent terminal.

FREDERICK C. LAVARACK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 601,707 Dainton Apr. 5, 1898 2,135,888 Febrey Nov. 8, 1938 2,221,491 Sabol Nov. 12, 1940 2,258,101 Sabol Oct. '7, 1941 2,330,483 Febrey Sept. 28, 1943 

